Macro Photography of Peacock Feathers

Canadian photographer Waldo Nell took a series of photomicrographs of a Peacock’s Feather up close under my Olympus BX53 microscope, and first uploaded these photos to Flickr sometime soon after, back in 2013. After being dormant for 3 years, these photos suddenly went viral on internet.

His images show the feathers magnified up to 500 times what you would see. Every line and curve appears in luminous definition, the colors shifting from green to blue to gold. “From afar you only see the pattern of the eye,” Nellsays. “From up close you can see the bundles of barbules and coloration unique to each segment. There is a lot of beauty hidden that you can only see up close.”

You would think Nell loves peacocks. But he says the project grew from his fascination with the unseen world around us. “I basically put anything I think has potential under the microscope—some things pan out, others [don’t],” he says. “Peacock feathers were an awesome find.”